• Granada Food Services, the caterers at Monsanto UK's headquarters in High Wycombe, has told all its clients—including the multinational—that it will not supply food containing genetically modified soya or maize because of customer concerns. Monsanto employees and their guests can still eat genetically modified food at work, however: A notice at the restaurant at the company's Cambridge branch proudly proclaims that some foods may contain such ingredients.

• An anarchist group from Canada has put out detailed advice for activists on how to trash genetically engineered crops safely and get away with it. Tao Communications, which describes itself as a nonprofit national media organization that is active in analysis, media action, and publishing, has posted a 3000-word document called The Nighttime Gardener that is, in essence, a “how-to” guide for anti-biotechnology vandals. Tao has scoured the world to bring its readers helpful tips on destroying experimental crops. To avoid detection, for instance, it recommends that nighttime gardeners “wear a complete set of old clothes that can be easily discarded in dumpsters after gardening.” To avoid health risks from herbicides, it advises that “Gore-Tex or rubber rain gear [cheaply purchased or easily stolen from Wal-Mart]…are necessary.” It recommends the use of duct tape as an aid for smashing greenhouses silently but suggests that a sharp knife will do for plastic greenhouses. The best time to conduct this destructive hobby, apparently, is at night under a new moon when it is raining hard, but The Nighttime Gardener warns against very late excursions because country walks in the dead of night are more likely to attract attention.

Timing is important in order to maximize the impact of crop destruction: too early, Tao says, and there will be time to replant; too late, and you are just harvesting the crop for the biotechnology companies. The guide also points out that it is not necessary to destroy all of an experimental crop to make it worthless: “Destroying 50–75% of the research plants will call into question any data gathered.” It also recommends taking out and redistributing the marker and identification tags from the plot. Finally, it notes that “computers, data files, clipboards with research information, and other documentation should be removed for our own research, or quietly destroyed.”